Does Our Nation's Education System Need

Does Our Nation's Education System Need an Overhaul?

Healthcare reform may be the hottest debate on Capitol Hill right now, but education reform may soon take its place.

Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation surveyed more than 40,000 public school teachers in grades pre-K to 12 and found that our country's educators believe big changes are needed in our education system.

Overwhelmingly, the survey found, teachers feel that too many students are unprepared for success beyond high school. Top among the mandates expressed by the teachers polled are a demand for clearer, tougher academic standards across all states, and the importance of not relying purely on test scores to measure a student's abilities.

The other big finding of the Gates/Scholastic survey is that when it comes to educating our kids, teachers cannot do the job alone. Thirty-eight percent of the teachers polled say that lack of support from family and friends is the single most likely reason some students won't leave high school prepared for a two- or four-year college.